Launched in 2011, Google+ was Google’s attempt to compete with Facebook, Twitter and other rising social networks by allowing its users to create “circles” of friends, engage with community pages and create posts.

Evidently, there are still people reaping benefits from maintaining a presence on Google+. However, in recent years, most brands have moved on from Google+ to focus their efforts elsewhere—like on social networks with much bigger audiences. And while Google+ may have been a sad, expensive failure, it was far from Google’s last attempt at creating a successful social network.

In 2014, Google launched Google My Business, a service that allows businesses to manage how their information appears in search. But more recently (and quietly), Google rolled out a new feature for Google My Business users that has the potential to put the search giant back in the social networking game.

Enter: Google Posts

Google Posts were first introduced under the name “candidate cards” in January 2016, and they were exclusive to political candidates looking to boost their search presence. A few months later, Google rolled out Posts to a small number of businesses—mostly sports teams, museums, musicians and movies. And as of July, the feature is now available for all businesses.

According to Google, 82 percent of people turn to search engines to find local information, and a brand’s Google listing is the ideal place to showcase everything a brand has to offer.

70 percent of people look at multiple businesses before making a final choice, and now, with Google Posts, businesses can share timely, relevant updates right on Google Search and Google Maps to help them stand out to potential customers.

So, why does Google believe taking another shot at incorporating social networking features into its products is the right way to go? Let’s take a look.

As TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden put it, “Google faces competition from the likes of Facebook, Twitter and now Snapchat for consumers’—and, thus, advertisers’—attention. Many users today do not think of search engines first when looking for information, deciding how to spend their money and finding things to entertain themselves. They go to these other applications, and that ultimately can cut into Google’s mainstay advertising business and revenues.”

Posts is another attempt by Google to even the playing field by incorporating some of the key features users loved most about Google+, which included the ability for businesses to engage with their customers and share relevant information about their brands with them.

While Google My Business allows businesses to customize the “static” information customers see, both businesses and their customers still crave the ability to connect and engage with each other. And that’s where Google Posts come in.

How Google Posts work

There is massive potential for local businesses to take advantage of the new Posts feature. When writing a post, businesses have several options, including the ability to upload an image, write text (up to 300 words) and add a title with start and end dates and times if it’s an event.

Businesses can also add call-to-action buttons including “learn more,” “reserve,” “sign up,” “buy” and “get offer.” Posts can include images, video and even animated GIFs.